


Control Core Angel

by Lost_Elf



Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angel (Borderlands) Lives, Badass Angel, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Study, Conflicted Handsome Jack, Fix-It of Sorts, Introspection, Light Angst, Random & Short, Revolution, Save Angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-02-28 17:26:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23160919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lost_Elf/pseuds/Lost_Elf
Summary: We all know the story. Vault Hunters broke into Control Core Angel and murdered her when she was just sixteen years old. Your view of the story might change, however, when you learn what happened one year sooner.Now with a short sequel!Read the second chapter to learn what happened next. ^.^ Won't say more, no spoilers. :p
Relationships: Angel & Handsome Jack (Borderlands)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Something random that came to my mind. One thousand words exactly (according to MS Word, not AO3), not on purpose, but pretty cool. :)

When the time to hook Angel up to a stable drip of eridium came, Handsome Jack didn’t sleep for days. He kept telling himself that it’s excitement, but the truth was that for the first time in years, he felt… like a giant piece of shit.

Once the process starts, it can’t be undone. Angel will become addicted to the substance within minutes, and charging the key will take months. She won’t be able to walk out of The Bunker once Jack opens the Vault and becomes the most powerful man in history. She won’t be able to walk out and see the sun, forever dependant on the supply of eridium.

Handsome Jack became… doubtful. He’s doing all of this _for her_. Is there really a point in this if she can’t enjoy the victory by his side? But those doubts were, more or less easily, chased away. Yes, there is. If he doesn’t open the Vault, Angel will never be safe. If she is safe but addicted to eridium, that’s alright. Better than any risks.

After ten coffees and zero hours of sleep, Jack descended to the Control Core. He pointedly avoided Angel’s eyes, instead focusing on the scientists around him droning about the important day ahead. They were _excited_ about the oncoming break-through in eridium science, _delighted_ to see his little girl get pumped full of that stuff. He almost wanted to kill them sooner just for that, having to remind himself that their dedication is the reason why he chose them for the project.

Everything was ready and waiting for his command. He hesitated. It might have looked bad in the eyes of his employees, but who cares? They’ll all be dead by the end of the day. Instead of giving them the go, he walked over to Angel’s chair.

The Siren was visibly nervous about the whole thing, but she was sweet, friendly and cooperative as always. Her ever-present smile fell a little as he came close.

He couldn’t handle that either, it was probably worse than the thing he was about to do. Did they really talk about weather? Did Jack talk about freaking weather with his daughter that he was going to turn into a junkie? _Disgusting_ , even for him. He cut their little chat short, giving her a last squeeze of hand, barely reassuring to either one of them.

“Okay, lab rats, begin the procedure,” he said in the scientists’ direction. He didn’t even bother remembering which one of them was in charge. His eyes kept flicking between Angel and the still empty eridium injectors, both hard to look at.

“Ten, nine…”

With each number, time seemed to grow slower. It felt as if the numbers were taunting the CEO, giving him a chance to stop all of it, even though everybody knew that he never would. This needed to be done.

“… two, one.”

Nothing happened. Jack generously waited three whole seconds, watching the piece of rock about to turn into a Vault key, but nothing was happening.

“Why isn’t this working, Angel?” he asked, impatience and irritation in his voice fighting with the doubts in his soul. Was the universe giving him a chance to stop it? No, he _had_ to do this. For Angel. For his wife. For freaking Pandora! This needs to happen.

“I dunno,” the Siren answered. She sounded nervous, but in a different way than before. Jack didn’t notice that.

“Angel, you’re a Siren. You’re one of a kind. You've got a brain the size of a freaking planet. Don't just give me ‘I dunno...’ Now make it work!”

“Yes, dad.”

It was the title that told him that something is not right. Angel stopped calling him dad about three years ago. He suspected it was all the books and cartoonish movies she read and watched, giving her the idea that the word has a special meaning. He didn’t care, but he noticed.

The eridium was flowing, and the key wasn’t charging. Jack asked himself where all the energy is going just as turrets descended from the ceiling and rained bullets all around him. Not a single one hit him or grazed him, but everyone else died on spot. The floor was cowered in blood in no time as bodies of scientists and soldiers were turned into a bloody mush.

“Wha—? Angel?!” he looked up just in time to see the eridium pumps stopping and Angel tossing away all the tubes and wires that connected her to the chair. She took a step forward, sad smile playing on her lips, and Jack took a step back.

“What are you doing, Angel?”

The girl didn’t say anything as she picked up a shock weapon. She was still much shorter than her father, slim and weakened by lack of exercise, and movement altogether. But she had something playing in her favour – the fact that Jack would never hurt her.

“I’m sorry, dad,” she said honestly as the weapon buzzed in her hands. Her powers were doing something to it, Jack realised too late. In the next second, he was shot.

Jack was unconscious by the time he hit the floor, but very much alive. Angel continued her plan, one she put together on long, lonely nights. She used the electrodes they used to connect her to Hyperion’s echonet and put them on her father’s forehead. Then, she created a simulation. One that would hopefully make her father happy. A story of destruction and violence. Betrayal.

Pulling him up into the chair was an ordeal, but she managed. She clasped her hands, cleaning them off non-existent dust, and looked around. Pulling a face, Angel realised that moving Jack’s body won’t be the hardest thing today, but she would manage. She’s a powerful Siren, still pretty doped on eridium. Better burn that thing out of her body, and then she can make sure her father is safe, and do something with Hyperion, too. She’ll show them to mess with her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Part two is here, because I was randomly inspired by [this prompt](https://twitter.com/catlikeacat/status/1323041920445304832?s=19) by [@catlikeacat](https://twitter.com/catlikeacat?s=09)! Thank you! ^.^
> 
> Dedicated to the two people that are subscribed to this story. :D

"M-M-Mrs President, h-here are the documents you-you ha-have requested."

A sour expression mars Angel's face. No matter how many times she has proven that she is not like her father, the atmosphere of fear prevails. Even now, the poor secretary takes her annoyance like a signal to start praying for their life, and she has to dismiss them with a wave of her hand and an eye-roll before they pass out, like those people like to do.

A ten inches high stack of papers is added to her desk – formerly Jack's, her now – and she lets her head thump on the wooden surface. Papers. Stupid _papers_. She hates working with those, but the kind of information that she is after is only stored in that form at Hyperion. Papers are impossible to hack, almost immune to information leaks, but she also cannot use her Siren powers on them to search for the answers faster. (She had actually invented a device that would solve that problem, but it will be a while before she allows someone from R&D to mess with her cybernetics and install the upgrade.)

With a sigh, the young woman takes the first paper off the stack and gingerly holds it up, reading into the tiny letters. Jack would be able to get through that pile within two hours...

Rolling her eyes, Angel breathes in deep and tried to shoo the memory of her father away. He is _gone_ now, living the life he wants in a virtual reality where he can't cause any harm. She is the one who chose to take over Hyperion instead of letting it crumble, it was _her decision_ alone, and the name Handsome Jack has no part in her life anymore.

Except it _does_ , and always will. She is Handsome Jack's daughter and successor. People will never see her for who she really is – a victim of her own powers, a little girl who was forced to grow up overnight, a good person, against all odds. When they look at her, they will see her father, or his absence. She will always be compared to him, every one of her decisions nitpicked for a proof that she is the same catastrophe, just waiting to happen.

And you know what? Be it. Let them believe that. Angel doesn't do anything for or against the speculations about what is hiding under the glove and long sleeve on her left arm. If they want to believe in a psychotic Siren CEO, then _be it_.

The only thing she really dislikes about it is the loneliness. In her position, Angel cannot trust anybody. It is ironic that even after escaping her prison, she remains isolated. Jack had set up a lonely life for her.

But he only wanted the best for her.

The thought is just as haunting as the other ones. It makes her eyes slowly wander towards the photo frame on the edge of her desk. Her mother is there, along with Jack, almost twenty years younger. Salvaging the old portrait cost her a lot of money, but fortunately, Jack had truly set her up on that front.

Angel doesn't remember her mother, or what kind of father Jack had been before she got her powers. She cannot rely on her own mind when it comes to the haunting questions and speculations.

What if she is doing the wrong thing? What if letting Jack destroy her, himself and Hyperion was the _right_ thing to do, and she is leading the galaxy to an even worse fate than whatever Jack would do? What can become of the world if one company becomes ultimately stronger than any other? Hyperion is already halfway there. What will happen next? Will somebody overthrow her the same way she overthrew her father? Is there a worse fate waiting for her? Will she cause another great war, or will she finally bring peace to the six galaxies?

So many questions and... not even one paper out of hundreds worked through.

The young Siren's head thumps against the desk again. They are pointless questions, anyway. There is no way to tell what lays at the end of her journey, but among the mess, there is one certainity:

Things are changing. Not only the new rules and order at Hyperion, or the celebrations of her father's disappearance that are still going on on Pandora.

The other manufacturers are anxious. The end of Hyperion's crusade on Pandora means less sales for them, while Hyperion, under Angel's leadership focusing on robotics, cybernetics and other technologies, keeps rising. Half of the universe is expecting a war, and the other half a new world order. Either way, when the fallout of Jack's disappearance is over, nothing will be the same, and it all depends on Angel.

The Siren smiles to herself, a wide grin. Unlike her father, she will do it right.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/ElfWriting).


End file.
